Parliamentary motion on Tibet to make government's relations with China awkward

May 24, 2008

By Zoltán Csipke
Plitics.hu (Hungary)
May 22, 2008, 15:08 CET

One of the obvious shortcomings of being a minority government was recently highlighted after the opposition succeeded in forcing the issue of debate on a statement to condemn Chinese involvement in Tibet. So far, the government has tried to delay a statement denouncing the Chinese government for their reaction to the protests, but since the government can no longer easily override motions by the opposition, a time for discussing this has been tabled, Index.hu reports.

Should a resolution condemning China over Tibet be passed, Parliamentary Speaker Katalin Szili has suggested she would not fly to Beijing in June to close the Year of Hungarian Culture festivities.

The government has suggested delaying such a motion until later, in light of the recent earthquake that resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands. As such, party leaders met with Foreign Minister Kinga Göncz Wednesday to arrive at a consensus, the results of which have yet to be made public.

What likely also played a role in the decision to table this issue is that this forces the government into an uncomfortable position with China. Furthermore, it also reinforces how the opposition can make life more difficult for the minority government.